Former wicketkeeper batter Parthiv Patel feels that it’s early to be concerned about India’s top-order after its underwhelming show in the crucial clash against Pakistan on Sunday. India registered a thrilling five-wicket win at Dubai International Stadium to start their Asia Cup 2022 campaign on a high. However, the top-order had a tough outing against a high-quality Pakistan attack. KL Rahul was dismissed on a golden duck on the second ball of the innings by Naseem Shah. While Rohit Sharma (12) and Virat Kohli (35) also failed to score big in the 148-run chase.
The Indian skipper struggled in the powerplay overs and failed to put his foot on the accelerator during his 18-ball stay. While Kohli also looked a bit rusty at the start of the innings as his catch was dropped on zero by Fakhar Zaman. However, he got his groove back after facing 10 balls. Interestingly, the star duo was dismissed by left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz in a similar fashion.
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Patel feels that Rohit didn’t get a chance to face many balls in the powerplay as Pakistan pacers hit the right areas to put pressure on the Indian batters
“He didn’t get to face a lot of balls in the first six overs. Pakistani bowlers hit the right lengths during that period, making it difficult to rotate strike. But Virat was hitting boundaries from the other end. Rohit Sharma didn’t get enough strike. But that can always happen in T20 format,” Patel said on Cricbuzz.
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The former wicketkeeper is completely against changing India’s top-order after just one game.
“It’s too early to be concerned about India’s top-order. It’s just one game and this is also the first time that his batting lineup has played together. You don’t make changes dependent on just one game,” he added.
Patel further said that Rahul and Kohli will get their touch back after playing some matches in the tournament.
“Rohit Sharma struggled in this match, but he looked fine in West Indies, even though he didn’t get big runs. The likes of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli haven’t had many games recently. The best way to go about it is to give them the full tournament. They are very high quality batters and once you give them four or five games, I am sure they will get those runs,” he said.
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